Page 27 of The Weekend Crashers
Piper finds the knitting group at a table in the back of the inn’s restaurant, near a crackling fireplace. Piper’s the last one to arrive, but Maggie saved her a seat. She hopes her mother isn’t upset with her for being MIA the past two hours.
Hannah Elise was absolutely right: Posting the knitting content gives her a sense of control; she served the algorithm gods an offering in hopes they soon bury her viral runway fall.
“Nice of you to make an appearance,” Maggie says.
Okay, so sheisupset with her.
Bottles of wine are set along the length of the long table, and Maggie is already pouring herself another glass. A waiter hands Piper a menu of craft cocktails. Kalli, to her right, is drinking something that smells like bourbon and spiced apple. Across the table, Lexi and Dove sip amber-colored beer. Piper decides she’ll stick with wine and pours herself a glass of merlot.
Laurel is on Maggie’s opposite side. Piper finds it curious that the best friends aren’t sitting together, but maybe she’s envious of their secure attachment.God forbid Mom and me aren’t glued at the hip. Then she feels guilty for the ungrateful thought. She turns to Maggie.
“Mom, sorry I ran off with Hannah Elise. But honestly,it felt good to have fun and post stuff that has nothing to do with work.”
She tries not to think about Gretchen’s voicemail. Her mother would be upset to know she’s ignoring a message from her manager. Former manager. And she doesn’t need Maggie’s input when she’s wrestling with her own mixed feelings.
“Well, I’m glad you didn’t delete your accounts after all. I’m telling you, what happened Wednesday night is going to blow over. It will be like it never happened.”
Maggie probably feels the sting of Piper’s failure as much as she feels it herself. That’s always been the double-edged sword of their closeness. And the older Piper gets, the sharper that edge feels.
Belinda stands up from her seat to address the table.
“Welcome to our opening-night festivities, everyone. I hope you’re all getting settled and that you’ve had some time to explore our beautiful little town. As I mentioned earlier, one of my retreat traditions is taking a group photo.”
Belinda’s husband appears with a digital camera. Max seems to be in his seventies, possibly a little older than Belinda. He’s medium height with a slender build, thick gray hair and deep-set brown eyes.
“I hope you’ll indulge me for a moment while my husband, Max, immortalizes our little ensemble. And I’d like to point out that one very special knitter has made it into every photo: Let’s hear it for Sheila.”
The table breaks out into applause. Piper stays seated, but half the table gets up to fit into the frame, shuffling around for position and debating who’s too tall for what spot.
“Say—we love yarn,” Max says once they’ve found a configuration that works. Maggie looks at him, her arm around Piper’s shoulder, and smiles. Okay, so they’re all good.
Everyone returns to their seats and the hum of conversationresumes. Beside her, Kalli hunches over to tap away on the phone she’s half hiding under the table. Then, sensing her gaze, Kalli looks up.
“Sorry,” Piper says, though she’s not sure why she’s apologizing.
“No, I’m being antisocial,” Kalli says, shoving the phone away in her bag. “So—you and your mom having fun so far?”
Piper can tell the brightness in her tone is forced.
“Yeah. It’s great. How about you and Laurel?”
Kalli glances across the table at her friend.
“As far as knitting? Hands-down the best workshops. And we’ve been to Vogue Knits Live twice.”
“And the non-knitting?” she says.
Kalli starts to say something, then stops herself. When she finally speaks, she says, “This trip was Laurel’s idea. A girls’ weekend, a ‘get your head straight’ weekend. But she’s annoyed that my head isn’t in the place she thinks it should be, so we’re arguing.”
“You mean, you’re not into the knitting as much as she is?”
“I wish it was that simple. Long story short, I’m getting divorced and she wants this weekend to be the start of me moving on. I want that too. But we have different ideas of what moving on should look like.”
Piper nods. Kalli doesn’t look that much older than she is. And she’s already getting divorced? She hopes Maggie doesn’t hear the story. It will just validate her anxiety over Piper getting so serious with Ethan.
“How long have you been married?”
“Three years. But we’ve been together since high school. So—a long time. And it’s a big deal because I’m the first in my family to get divorced.”
